OPEN ME! for PS Vita Coming to North America

The creative minds in PlayStation C.A.M.P! have created an entirely original puzzle game exclusively for PS Vita, and it’s created a strong buzz since its debut at Tokyo Game Show last Fall. Today, we’re announcing that OPEN ME! an addictive augmented reality puzzle game for PS Vita, is coming to North America later this year.

The goal in OPEN ME! is simple – open the box and collect the items inside. This may sound easy, but these boxes are full of traps; players will need to use Vita’s augmented reality features to look closely at the boxes from every direction, looking for the slightest hint on how to open them.

By using PS Vita’s cameras and smart augmented reality technology, the elusive box will appear on the screen in seconds. Touch the screen to open the box, but be careful, the lids of some boxes are razor sharp and they will shut tight if you fail. Boxes range from a simple wooden box to a more sophisticated box made of metal, each with its own unique tricks to opening the box. Examples of challenges include stacking colorful boxes from the inside of a larger box, or exploring and disarming a box’s security system (i.e. spinning blades or propellers). So you can definitely say that “thinking outside the box” is a requirement.

OPEN ME! will also feature a multiplayer mode, where communication skills between players and speed are key in opening these boxes. Multiplayer will require two PS Vita systems loaded with OPEN ME!. Like single player, each challenge requires something different for each puzzle such as angling lasers at a fellow player to light up sensors or synchronizing button pressing. More details on both single and multiplayer gameplay will be shared at a later date.

We will be showing OPEN ME! at the upcoming Game Developer’s Conference, over at the Silicon Studio booth, so for all you industry folks who are attending the show feel free to get a sneak peek of the game. More information will be coming soon — stay tuned!

Fun idea. Now you just have to make sure you’re designing a really good hook. The collection of items you get are displayable in some way, say like a house or room. Items are combine-able, allowing for bigger and better “creations” to be made ONLY by coming back and successfully opening more boxes. How about adding a system that allows for trading your collected items using near? Instead of just a single box to open, there were between 1-3 boxes to choose from. Each with something inside, only one way to find out. You could even include some sort of currency system for successful unlocks, or repeated unlocks, or unlocks with the fewest possible hints. Currency could be spent on eliminating a given obstacle on the box your attempting to open, or to “help you decide” which box you want to choose based on what’s inside and what collectible you’re after. Make the game playable once daily, furthering the draw of collecting everything and getting people to return regularly. This would also give real weight to the “choice element” of deciding which box to open if you can only try once a day. Seems like lots of possibilities. Can’t wait to see more. Let me know if you have an opening on your design team. :) Would love to join!

where are the retail, full-development games? I bought a Vita on launch day, and there has been a serious lack of development for it. There are plenty of Indie games and PSN games, but a lack of focus for the Vita is disappointing. Remember how they were working on compatibility for PS1 games? that stopped. they had an initial conversion, and about 10 have release over the past 6 months. Gravity Rush, Uncharted, Playstation All-stars…. that’s about it. Waste of money on this thing, it fell victim to the same issue plaguing the PSP. no 3rd party support, because the ownership rate is very low because Sony priced the Vita too high for people to afford. That’s why people buy the DS. Damn, I wish I didn’t have to trade in my Vita.

The once daily was just a suggestion. But the game design idea is not to arbitrarily extend game length, but to encourage long term play and interest. Sitting down to a game like this, that you run through all puzzles in 3 1/2 hours means, one play through, maybe a couple at most. The game is a throw-away. Making the game a “Daily” gives the player reason to come back, which is really well suited for a “gotta collect them all” type game. Many people enjoy this method of play, giving their game (and in turn, purchase) longevity. Creating the game with this design in mind, also allows the dev to release it with, oh say, 25 puzzles. This will take a few weeks to run through for the player, IF they happen to get all the 25 different boxes without encountering a duplicate, giving the devs time to create additional content for future releases. Now I’m not saying I want paid DLC, they could market it at a decent price, with the idea that more boxes will be added continually (with more collectibles to find). The theory is sound, even if it’s not your cup of tea.

Ok This is outside the box, But I just downloaded System Software Update 4.40 and have no idea what it does. Seeing it’s a big gap between 4.31 & 4.40 can you or someone on the team tell me what the new features of 4.40 are?

One thing I wish the AR games would do is infer probably light sources/tints based upon subtle differences on the cards during initialization/orientation. Even something simple would help make the projected AR objects look more integrated into the environment. Does this game do that?

Any chance of support multiplayer for a PS3 user and a Vita user? As in, point the PS Eye at the same AR card and use the Move/DualShock in conjunction with the Vita user. That would be *really* slick.